Monday, September 4, 2017

First off, belated Happy International New Trials Day! And also I feel so bad for missing Sakura's birthday on April 1 and Syaoran's birthday on July 13. It's not that I did not forget them, but rather, I felt so guilty for not having the latest chapter up and ready, so I've banned myself from doing anything else but work on the chapter, including communicating with all of you here and via FB and Yahoo Group. Self-imposed punishment that no one wants, including myself. Without further ado, New Trials of Card Captor Sakura Chapter 73: The Other Side of Midnight Part 1 is up on ff.net. Now, for the usual apologies and updates on what I've been up to. Truthfully speaking, Part 1 of Chapter 73 has been pretty much ready to go since Sakura's birthday, but there was an aspect of Part 2 that I have not been completely satisfied with. But I think I've sorted out the kinks finally. I think if it was an earlier on arc, I would have just went with it, but as you know, New Trials is coming to an end, and the closer we get to the finale, the higher standards I have for myself, and the harder it's become to publish chapters, especially because I am writing ahead as well. It's not that I have neglected New Trials, but rather, when I am home at night after work, I always have my New Trials Word document open on the background, every single day probably, though some days I am more productive than others. But I don't want to bore you with all the excuses, but I want to thank all of you for being so patient from the bottom of my heart.In my head, I have a timeline (which I probably never keep), but I expect Chapter 73 Part 2 to be up within one or two weeks, catch up with correspondence this month, and also update my website wishluv.com page finally with Chapter 72 and 73, so that it would be easier to read by next month. Thank you always for supporting New Trials! Really, I think without everyone's encouragement, I would not have been able to celebrate the 18th of New Trials, and over 20 years of Card Captor Sakura. I guess thanks for CLAMP for sticking with Sakura and Syaoran so long, and keeping the franchise up and vibrant, especially now with the Clear Card Arc!

Music Spotlight:

Family of the Year - "Hero"This is a song I listen to a lot when I write Leiyun scenes, and I think it is an appropriate theme song for him. And below is Yo Yo Ma's performance of Paganini's Caprice No. 24, which would make sense if you've read the chapter.

Music Spotlight: Ayaka Hirahara's "Not a Love Song"I've
raved about Ayaka Hirahara a lot on this blog. This song in particular
has been on my playlist frequently over the past several months.
Befitting for Valentine's Day, no? Highlight for spoilers from Chapter 73:

It had been her mother who first broke the news to her. Her father was
dead. Li Ryuuren, the Chosen of the Li Clan, had died during a mission. He had
just been 30 years old. Her father who wielded the jian better than anyone she
knew, who had promised to teach her how to summon a dragon some day, her father
who was rarely home but always brought home a little trinket for her from his
travels. Her father who played the violin for her and her cousins in the
parlor.

Her father would never come pat her on her head and smile down, with his
brilliant blue eyes, the shade of the Hong Kong oceans on a sunny day. They
said she had her father’s eyes, but hers were not as deep a blue as his were. He
was never coming back anymore.

Fuutie learned the news of his death before her four younger siblings,
because she was the eldest. Syaoran was only three, so he didn’t really
understand what was going on. It was the first and last time she had seen her
mother shed tears. Her younger sisters clung to her skirt, crying, asking where
their father was. But she was the oldest. Even though she was only 10. Even
though she was just a child herself. She had to be strong for their sake. She
couldn’t show weakness. And she didn’t.

If only they didn’t hold the funeral, she could have pretended he was gone
on another long mission, that he will come back home someday. But they held a
wake and a long, grand funeral procession, befitting for the Chosen One of the
Li Clan, and they buried an empty casket in the soil. She knew it was empty
because Cousin Dairen said so—he had heard directly from his father, Elder
Daifu. Where had he gone to, and why hadn’t he come back? How did he die?
Nobody had any answers to these questions.

Fuutie did not go to school that day. She did not want to face the politely
sympathetic teachers and classmates and try to pretend everything was okay. Instead,
she took out a wad of cash she had saved up, packed extra food into her
backpack, and ran away from home for the first time in her life. She took the
subway on her own for the first time. And she went to the seaside. Her father sometimes
wanted to get away from the chaos of the Li Clan, and he liked to come to this
beach. Sometimes, he brought her along. Because she was special. She was his
firstborn. But she would never have a getaway with him anymore. She kicked off
her shoes and peeled off her knee socks so that she could feel the sand between
her toes. She walked closer to the water, till she could feel the waves splatter
against her toes. She walked deeper into the water, till it reached her calves,
then her thighs, the waist. The water was icy cold, but she didn’t care. They
sky was overcast and the water was a murky gray-blue.

“Father!” she cried out. “Father! Where are you?” Her voice echoed out
across the vast ocean but there was no answer. “Don’t leave me! Daddy!” She
didn’t realize how deep she had walked into the ocean, and the water reached
nearly to her chin. The wave was coarser, and she nearly lost footing. Her
school uniform was completely drenched. But she did not care—it was a relief to
be out here, alone, away from her sobbing sisters, from her mother who had a permanent
line down the center of her forehead, from Uncle Wutai who was smirking
throughout the funeral, from Leiyun who looked as if the world had shattered,
when it wasn’t even his father who had died.

And she did not see him at first. A boy in a high school uniform had waded
up into the ocean. All she knew was that a strong pair of arms grabbed her from
behind her. And she struggled out of basic instinct. “Let me go!” she shrieked.
“Let go of me.” She tried to kick him. But he wouldn’t let her go.

He shouted at her, gripping her tighter, “You can’t die! You stupid girl.
You’re so young, and trying to do something this foolish. Do you know how
precious life is? Treasure it more!”

She stopped struggling against his hold, and cranked her head to catch a
glimpse of the idiot who thought she was trying to kill herself. He was tall,
with shortly cropped wheat-colored hair, and an intimidating visage. She might
have mistaken him for one of the local hooligans, but she recognized his
uniform as that of a high school that some of her older cousins went to. And
his eyes, under slanted brown browns, were a clear barley color, full of
concern despite his course language. She was about to retort that she was not
in the midst of attempting suicide, but the next wave was high, and would have
engulfed her if she wasn’t lifted up over his shoulder, easily, with one arm,
and dragged out of the ocean.

“What are you doing, you hooligan?” she demanded, pounding her fists into
his back, her legs kicking out wildly.

He dumped her on the sand unceremoniously and said, “Good. Seeing from the
power behind your punches, it seems you have plenty of fire left in you yet.
That should be enough to keep you wanting to live on.”

With a scowl, Fuutie tried to strain the water from her pleated skirt and
straightened her blouse. “I wasn’t trying to kill myself!”

“Then what were you doing in the middle of the ocean, with the water to you
chin, with a storm brewing out there?” demanded the high school boy. He too was
drenched from head to toe, and had not even bothered to take his shoes off.

“I was just trying to mourn in peace!” retorted Fuutie, glaring up at him.

“For whom, may I ask?” he asked, in a softer tone.

“My father,” said Fuutie.

“I see. Couldn’t you mourn on land?” His eyes were sympathetic—but not
condescendingly so— and she found she didn’t mind sympathy from this person.

“I can’t cry in front of my younger siblings—I have to be strong. I
promised Father I would take care of the family. Because I’m the oldest,” said
Fuutie, her throat closing up. She was shivering now from the cold. “But the
ocean doesn’t care if I cry. The ocean will not judge me. The waves cover up the
sound.”

The older boy knelt down in front of her and wiped the tear streaming down
her eyes with his bare hand. “I would lend you a handkerchief, but a hooligan
like me doesn’t carry around handkerchiefs. And even if I did, it would be wet.”

“I’m not crying,” said Fuutie, sniffling, wishing the high schooler would
just leave her alone.

He blinked those pale brown eyes and asked her solemnly. “So, what is
saltier? The ocean or your tears?”

The ridiculousness of the question nearly made her laugh out loud. And the feisty
young Fuutie replied, arms crossed, “Since we established I’m not going to kill
myself, and never intended to in the first place, you can go along your way
now.”

“I’ll take you back home.”

“No!” she exclaimed. “I’m not going back home.”

He heaved a long sigh. “Running away from home is not going to change
anything. You said you have younger siblings, right?”

“Four of them—three sisters and a baby brother,” said Fuutie glumly.

“Wow, that’s a lot of them. I only have a younger sister and brother, and
they’re a handful as is,” he said with a gentle smile. “Think how distraught
your sisters and brother would be without you by their side.”

“I’m not going home today,” she repeated.

With a shrug, he said, “Well, I guess I’ll have to stay with you until you
decide to go home then.”

“You don’t have to do that!” said Fuutie with a scowl. “I know how to take
care of myself.”

“I don’t doubt that, if you’re the oldest of five,” he said. “But a storm’s
coming, and the tide’s rising, and I can’t leave a kid out here alone. It’d be
on my conscious.”

Fuutie glared up at the young man, who she figured was five or six years
older than her at most. But he felt like an adult, more mature than her
annoying cousin Dairen. He had broad shoulders and was extremely strong—she
knew because he had flung her over his shoulder like she was a sack of
potatoes. He was built like a fighter, just like her father. But he was also
kind-hearted, for he could not leave a girl out in the storm alone. “Fine, I’ll
go back home.”

“Where do you live?” he asked.

“Victoria’s Peak.”

“I thought you were a young miss,” he said with chuckle. “You’ve never run
away from home before, have you?”

“Have you?” she asked curiously.

“Numerous times,” he replied. “Told you I’m a hooligan.”

“But you always returned home?”

“Of course.”

“Why?”

“Because I always remembered the crying faces of my baby brother and
sister,” he said with a nostalgic smile. “And when I came back home, they would
rush up to me with their small arms and hug me tightly with the brightest
smiles. Eventually, I didn’t have the heart to runaway and make them sad
anymore.”

“You don’t seem much like a hooligan,” she remarked.

He chuckled. “Well, kiddo, not all hooligans go around with the word
hooligan written on their faces. That should be a lesson to learn early on.”

“I’m not a kid,” said Fuutie with a scowl.

“Then tell me your name,” he said.

“It’s Fuutie. Li Fuutie,” she replied.

“Not of the Li Clan up on Victoria’s Peak?” he asked slowly.

She nodded.

“Then the funeral of your father—your father was Li Ryuuren?”

“Yes,” she replied—it was a grand funeral procession, so it didn’t really surprise
her that people knew about it.

“I see,” he said softly. “You went through a lot, kid.”

“Fuutie,” she repeated. “My name is Fuutie. What’s yours?”

He stared down at her and finally replied, “Zino.”

Zino took her to the foot of Victoria’s Peak, so that she could get on the
tram up the hill but did not join her up. Fuutie was sure that nobody had even
missed her yet, with the chaos of the funeral. But she was glad she did not
have to disappoint her mother and siblings. True, she was sopping wet still,
but she could blame it on the storm—for it had begun to rain, just as Zino had
predicted. “Thank you, Zino,” she called out from the window of the tram, and
he smiled and waved at her. His eyes were a pale yellow-brown, just like tiger’s
eyes glowing in the dark.

She would always remember the day she bid her final farewell to her father
at that ocean. That was the start of her first love.

Sunday, January 1, 2017

I made a joking remark today that I can't believe it's already 2017, for I left my heart in 1999. Only later did I realize that it was the year that I began writing the New Trials of Card Captor Sakura. I began writing New Trials when the third season of the CCS anime was on air in Japan, and I believe I will wrap it up around the time CCS anime sequel will air. How things come to a full cycle. I've spent more years of my life writing New Trials than I have not writing it. And longtime readers of New Trials, we have grown up together in a sense, while new a new generation of readers join in, and I am sure more fans of the CCS franchise will grow with the new sequel.

A business trip in December threw me off schedule for my posting schedule for New Trials but I am really nearly finished writing Chapter 73: The Other Side of Midnight. This one is a fun chapter, and I don't think writing this chapter took so long per say, compared to the realization that this really is the last chapter before the final mini-arc of New Trials and perhaps I want to relish in it a bit longer. Frankly, I envisioned completing New Trials next year, which I guess is technically this year, in 2017, though knowing the pace I write at, I don't know how long feasible that would be. I've already written the ending several years ago, and as I mentioned, even as I was writing the past several chapters, I've spent some time writing ahead. Fun fact, through New Trials Arcs 1 and 3 I never really wrote much of an outline, and had everything in my head, though starting Arc 4 I began writing out chapters and plot summaries because truthfully, my memory is just not what it used to be like. I apologize for ever making fun of my friends with bad memories--I used to be the one who remembers everything, but now it's no longer the case. Though I swear, I went to a college reunion Christmas, and I can say my memory serves better than most people there including fresh graduates who can't remember building names for heaven's sake. Thank you for supporting New Trials another year, and while I know I am bad with deadlines, I can promise you that 2017 will be an awesome year for New Trials, and 2018 an awesome new year for the revival of Card Captor Sakura, with the new Clear Arc anime coming out. We know it will be good because CLAMP's Nanase Ohkawa-sensei will be in charge of the scripts and series composition. She is the reason why CCS is the only anime where the "fillers" are even better than the manga sometimes. But I believe that the CCS anime did not have any fillers but rather expanded on the manga version and made it better. Card Captor Sakura is a series I will always hold dear in my heart, and if I ever have any children in the future, it's a story I would gladly share with them. The reason I grew to love anime in the first place, besides the fact that Korean children all grow up watching them anyway, is because my mom rented me all sorts of anime series from a video rental store when I was a kid, back when video rental was a thing. She also drew me lovely 1970s-style shoujo style girls, always wearing puffy lace dresses and ribbons in their hair. And that style has influenced me to this day. So, Happy New Year 2017! I hope this new year brings in good tidings to all of you, and I also thank you from the bottom of my heart for standing by!

http://wishluv.deviantart.com/art/Merry-Christmas-2016-Sakura-and-Syaoran-653293848Music Spotlight: Ryuichi Sakamoto: Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence Trio versionI already included this song in the New Trials Christmas Soundtrack before, but I love listening to it this time of the year, more than carols. I like listening to carols in the summertime, I am odd like that. I really love this piano, violin, cello trio version of the song. But I love the simple piano solo version the best.

Thursday, December 22, 2016

Yuri!!! on Ice is undoubtedly my favorite anime of the year, if not past several years. Just when you think that nothing new, impressive, or original in anime can be made, this jewel of a show shot into the scene. I was intrigued by the premise of the show, a male figure-skating sports anime, when it was announced, but nothing prepared me for how good it actually would be. I was expecting light entertainment, but what we all got goes way beyond, it's an ambitious show but it sticks to its routes--figure skating. And I always believe, characters drive a show, and you get so much character development in the course of 12 episodes, not only of main character self-purported "dime-a-dozen" figure skater Japanese Yuuri Katsuki but world champion and coach Viktor Nikiforov of Russia and 15-year-old rival Yuri Plisetsky--as well as a bunch of other interesting competitors as well. I don't know if there is an anime where I've liked all the characters in the show so much since Card Captor Sakura. It's a rare show that I want to rewatch the moment I finish watching the episode, over and over again and puts a stupid grin on my face for the whole duration of the 23 minutes. Kudos to both director Sayo Yamamoto and writer Mitsuro Kubo for putting together an outstanding anime that remains authentic yet visionary. And of course, the choreography throughout the show is lovely since Japanese figure skater Kenji Miyamoto choreographed it. There may be some spoilers below if you haven't seen the show already. Viktor Nikiforov: Loss, Loneliness, Love, Life by wishluv on DeviantArt From the first few seconds of the first episode, I was hooked to this show, that moment where young Yuuri is looking upon his idol Viktor skating, first the younger version with long hair and then the current version. The shadows in the animation, the sound of the blade hitting the ice, everything is so satisfying. I don't think there can be a more perfectly made first episode, from Yuuri's narration and flashbacks to his childhood, skating Viktor's routine for his childhood friend Yuko, to that penultimate seen in the onsen with the arrival of a naked Viktor.

My favorite sports anime to date is Slam Dunk by Takehiko Inoue, which I think is the golden standard of all shounen sports manga and anime. Yuri!!! on Ice I believe is in its own genre, because technically it is a sports anime, which is not usually my favorite genre but occasionally I can really get into it, but because the characters are generally older and more mature, and it is a late-night anime. It almost narrates rather as a life a slice of life show. The hints of nostalgia, that heartrending moments when Yuuri declares this Grand Prix Final will be the final season of his skating career, the fact that Yuuri himself is not a teenager but a 23-year-old adult (considered old in figure skating age) who has come far but is finding his place as a figure skater, lets the show avoid all the common cliches of a sports anime. It's an odd comparison, but it hits similar notes for me that Honey and Clover did, my favorite slice of life anime ever. Yurio, or the other Yuri, would make the typical shounen anime protagonist as a 15-year-old prodigy/brat, but he too is developed beautifully. One of my favorite Yurio moments is that moment after the Agape short skate piece where he is staring at the ice, exhausted and disappointed in his performance, but then looks up at the audience with a smile, showing professionalism. The anime's note to these tiny details makes it so great. And of course, 27-year-old Viktor Nikiforov is the most enigmatic character and we don't really get into his head, his motivations and what makes him click until his full narration in Episode 10, though we get a little insight starting from Episode 5 during Yuuri's free skate routine. There was always the lingering question of why Viktor chose to coach Yuuri when he did, and also, the question of whether he was going to return to competitive figure skating, and I am glad they addressed this issue straightforwardly in the last episode. In my head, I was certain Viktor would return to competitive skating, especially since he is said to be partially inspired off of real-life figure skating champion Evgeni Plushenko. And it was clear in Episode 11 when he watched Yurio break his short skate record that he wanted to skate as a competitor again. Viktor's loss of motivation after being a five-time Grand Prix champion, his desire to continuously surpass himself, push the limits and shock his audience, his awareness of his popularity and legendary status paired with an introspective nature, makes him a fascinating character to analyze. Again, Episode 10 was one of my favorites, though there are many to choose from, since it was one devoted to character exposition off skate in Barcelona before the Grand Prix. It's a rare anime episode that I caught airing live because I was in Japan that time. I can't believe I stayed up till 3 a.m. to catch that episode and was sitting in a hotel room squealing by myself.That scene by the beach, when Yurio kicks Viktor's back numerous times, a move that would send Yuuri flaying over, can seem like a comedic moment, but rather, it symbolized that Viktor, who does not budge, is staying put. That line Viktor thinks, about how if he stayed in Russia as a competitor, neither Yurio nor he himself would have been as motivated, was very poignant. It wasn't touched upon earlier in the story, but Viktor, decided to take the season off, could also be seen as his gesture to let Yurio, the next-generation of skaters of Russia, to take the limelight and also grow as a skate in his senior debut. And of course, I love that revelation of the banquet after the Grand Prix Final the previous year where Yuuri gets drunk on champagne and proposes a dance-off with Viktor, asking him to become his coach. And how fun is it that the director switched up the ending theme to photos of the dance-off and pole dancing with Chris, and that light in Viktor's eyes at the end is just about the most heartwarming reaction ever. But perhaps the most poignant line by Viktor is how he recalls that he has been neglecting two L words for nearly 20 years: Life and Love. It's a pleasure to see Viktor go from the troubled, distant, lonesome man who has lost motivation in life, hiding behind his flirty, jovial facade, fill that empty void in him through being by Yuuri's side. Again, a sign of a healthy, mutual relationship. Finally, the relationship between Viktor and Yuuri is developed organically yet fabulously, from Yuuri idolizing Viktor, learning to trust him, standing up against him, at time rebelling, and then standing on equal grounds. Their love for each other can be seen through the animation, the sparkle in the eyes, their gestures, and again, that shows the importance of animation and directing. I am not as devastated as I thought I would be that Yuuri did not win gold in the end, because I believe it sets stage for a second season. I started this show thinking I can fully be satisfied with one season, and these 12 episodes give more character growth and exposition than you would get in 200 episodes of some shounen anime, but I would be ecstatic for a second season, OVAs, or a movie (or all) with Viktor and Yuuri both returning as competitors, Yurio undergoing puberty and overcoming changes in his body as a competitor, an important issue raised in the first season, more insight into his burgeoning friendship with Kazakhstan skater Otabek Altin, and some more development for the rest of the skaters who did not get much air time because all the characters are so much fun and I especially love their dynamic together.

Some other things to note is that the show makes seamless references to 2016 technologies and social media including Instagram and Yuuri gaining Viktor's attention through a Youtube video of his performance of his idol's routine "Stay With Me" which is probably the best animated routine in the show. I was thrilled that we get a duet version with Yuuri and Viktor in Episdode 12's ending credits, as if Sayo Yamamoto was granting everyone's wish to see the pair skate together.

The music for this show is amazing, as expected from a figure skating show, from the iconic "Yuri on Ice" piece for Yuuri's free skate routine to that catchy rap piece for American skater Leo de la Iglesia's short routine "Still Alive." The opening theme of the show, "History Maker" by Dean Fujioka is so fun and the best OP of the year in my mind. Plus, Dean Fujioka, also an actor, is really hot if you didn't know, and fluent in English. I don't think there has been a figure skate choreography anime OP ever before, and I love how the anime switches up the OP each week to make it more colorful--again the attention to the details. I never want to fast forward through the OP. And the ending theme, "You Only Live Once" by Wataru Hatano, is almost as catchy, but I do love episodes where they forgo the ending all together for more air time, such as Yuuri's press conference in Episode 5 (by the way I love that this anime does not forget earlier jokes and Viktor does end up buying Yuuri a whole new suit later after declaring he wants to burn the unfashionable tie), or the Episode 10 banquet scene, or Episode 12's duet exhibition to "Stay With Me."

I think this opening captures the show so well. These characters really were born to make history.

Monday, October 31, 2016

Happy Halloween 2016! I was supposed to have New Trials of Card Captor Sakura Chapter 73, Part I ready by today in my head, but of course I don't. Fear not, I've not been slacking off. I do try to allocate quite a bit of time a week to writing, but I'm not sure why this chapter is taking so long. I guess I'm cherishing the fluff while it lasts.

I haven't been working on any new fanart because my top priority is Chapter 73, but I am sharing an unfinished doodle from a certain scene in Chapter 72. It is very shoujo-esque and also the reverse of the thunderstorm fanart from year's ago.

I had an awesome dream over the weekend, CCS related. Maybe it's because of the Clear Card Arc and the anticipation of a new movie. But I had a dream I was in a theater and was totally not expecting it but ended up watching a new, never-seen before Card Captor Sakura feature film. The animation quality and cinematography was amazing. Even in my dream though, I knew it was just a "preview" not a whole full movie. I was not expecting it at all, but then Syaoran showed up in the movie too, looking very cool in a new battle costume. That was about it. I came out of the movie and there was a darned long line to get the movie merchandise. How realistic can my unrealistic dreams get? The next night, then, I had an awful but interesting sci-fi dystopian dream of being stuck in a time loop over and over again, where everybody ends up getting killed and I need to find a way to stop the cycle. But it turns out everybody is connected to a pod and the world is just a dream world. What a befitting birthday dream.

Maybe it's because I fell asleep listening to Coldplay's Scientist last night.

Thursday, September 1, 2016

Happy International New Trials Day 2016!!! by wishluv on DeviantArtI wish I could have finished the full version of this fanart, but I didn't think I would have time to color it in. Syaoran, unfortunately, is cut out but he's there, besides Sakura. I was trying to figure out how many years have passed since I began writing New Trials, and this year, I just couldn't do the math until I saw a Facebook post which said it's been 17 years! I realize now that I picked the right fandom to pursue when I chose to begin writing New Trials in fall 1999. I seriously think CCS has the best and most united fandom out there, and it hasn't disappointed in the near 20 years that I've known this series.

I think I mentioned before that one of the reasons I began writing a fanfic for CCS was because I was dead sure that CLAMP would never write a sequel for it. Boy was I wrong. I'm so excited that CLAMP did choose to write a sequel for the 20th anniversary of CCS, other than Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles of course. It means new artwork, new merchandise! And I'm hoping that the Card Captor Sakura Clear Arc will be animated as well. Dare I dream of a new collaboration between Yoko Kanno and Maaya Sakamoto? Of course, I am so far along in New Trials that a new sequel really has no impact on the story I have in mind. I didn't get much of a chance to work on Chapter 73: The Other Side of Midnight over my summer break, but it's a chapter I'm really excited about.

So, thank you for supporting New Trials and for us for supporting CCS for so long that CLAMP felt compelled to revisit their pet series. I swear, I think they must love Sakura and Syaoran as much as we do. I once wrote in some post long ago that though CCS is my favorite of CLAMP's works by far, I believe X, though yet unfinished, to be CLAMP's magnum opus. But perhaps, I was wrong, and it will be Card Captor Sakura, after all. I can go with that. Do check out the fabulous artwork being posted on Facebook celebrating New Trials Day! Music Spotlight is Yui's Gloria. I listened to Yui's Orange Garden Pop album on the airplane and remembered how much I liked her music all over again. She has such a poignant voice. This song's been stuck in my head for some reason though.

Tuesday, August 2, 2016

Apologies for the two-week delay but Chapter 72: Almost Left Behind Part 2 is up on ff.net. I've been working diligently to post this before I head off to vacation this weekend. I thought I could edit this half quicker, but it's hard to get through more than one scene at a time per sitting because I've been so busy. When I'm at home, I almost always have the New Trials Word document open though I'm not necessarily working on it, to squeeze in any editing or writing. The problem with going on vacation is that it takes more work to take time off sometimes.

I'll publish the final edited version of Chapter 72 on my website when I come back. A bulk of Chapter 73 is written, and I'm taking my laptop with me so hopefully I can work on that a little bit over break.

Hope all of you are enjoying your summer and staying cool.

Music Spotlight: One of my favorite pianists Yundi Li performing Paganini's La Campanella, in reference to Chapter 72 Part 2.